Could Apple Be Moving To $.99 TV Episode Rentals?

Rumors of a new version of Apple TV running on iOS don’t seem to be dying, but instead are building more and more momentum that makes them look legitimate. Adding fuel to the fire are new rumors that Apple is in talk to start renting individual episodes of television series as opposed to only selling them.

Apple has been fairly successful selling episodes of television series via the iTunes Store for $1.99 for standard definition, and $2.99 for high definition. However, as more and more streaming services such as Netflix’s Watch Instantly and Hulu Plus hit the scene, the need to purchase episodes is becoming more and more questionable.

NewTeeVee is reporting that Apple is in talks with with TV content providers about the possibility of renting their episodes as opposed to just selling them. The expectation is that the rentals would work like the movies do in that once you rent an item, you have 30 days to begin watching it, and once you start the video you can watch it as many times as you would like for 24 hours.

The problem is that the discussed price is $.99 and considering Netflix runs as cheap as $8.99 a month for unlimited streaming, and Hulu Plus is $9.99 a month, there isn’t a whole lot of reasons for $.99 rentals. Sure there may be a few shows they offer that the streaming services don’t, but if you have more than ten episodes a month to watch, there is no reason for the rentals as it would cost you more than the subscriptions.

While downloaded episodes could be watched any time since they were on your device, apparently the rentals would be streaming, so if you remove the ability to watch them on say an airplane, the reason for renting drops even more.

We’re not sure how much to believe this particular rumor because it doesn’t seem to make any financial sense for the consumer, and while Apple likes its money, even it doesn’t usually go this far out in left field.